Slowly but surely, the list of FTSE 100 companies with no female boardroom directors is shrinking. A year ago, 21 of them did not have any women directors. By October last year that had fallen to 14. Last month it was 11, when there was a formal review of progress after Lord Davies recommended that the biggest 100 companies should have 25% female board representation by 2015.

Aramburuzabala is the first woman on the board of the company, which was created in 2008 when it was listed on the London stock exchange after being spun out of a Mexican holding company. She is a member of many boards in Mexico, including Grupo Modelo – the Corona brewer founded by her grandfather.

Fresnillo was at pains to point out that she was chosen on merit and not to meet the Davies quotas.

The remaining male-only boards are largely mining companies based outside the UK. One of them, Glencore, is chaired by Simon Murray, who a year ago declared that women were a risk to hire because they get married and become pregnant. Another is Xstrata, which Glencore is attempting to take over in a friendly tie-up. Prime examples of what Davies, the former Standard Chartered bank boss, is up against.